-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- When Ji Yeqing awakened , she was already in the recovery room .

Chinese authorities had dragged her out of her home and down four flights of stairs , she said , restraining and beating her husband as he tried to come to her aid .

They whisked her into a clinic , held her down on a bed and forced her to undergo an abortion .

Her offense ? Becoming pregnant with a second child , in violation of China 's one-child policy .

`` After the abortion , I felt empty , as if something was scooped out of me , '' Ji told a congressional panel in September . `` My husband and I had been so excited for our new baby . Now suddenly all that hope and joy and excitement disappeared . ... I was very depressed and despondent . For a long time , whenever I thought about my lost child , I would cry . ''

As she lay unconscious , she said , an IUD to prevent future pregnancies was inserted .

The issue of forced abortions -- and in some cases , forced sterilizations -- in China has seized the spotlight in recent days with news of escaped activist Chen Guangcheng .

Chen , a blind , self-taught lawyer , rose to fame in the late 1990s because of his advocacy for what he calls victims of abusive practices , such as forced abortions , by Chinese family planning officials . He investigated forced abortions and sterilizations in eastern China -- a practice China denies -- and helped organize a class-action lawsuit on behalf of victims , for which he served four years in prison .

A fellow activist , Hu Jia , said Chen has taken refuge at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing .

`` Chen may be safe for the moment , but the women for whom he risked everything are not , '' said Reggie Littlejohn , president of Women 's Rights Without Frontiers , a California-based organization that describes itself as a `` broad-based , international coalition that opposes forced abortion and sexual slavery in China . ''

`` Forced abortion is not a choice , '' Littlejohn said . `` It is official government rape . ''

On a January 2011 visit to the United States , Chinese President Hu Jintao reportedly denied that China was forcing women to submit to abortions . Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen , R-Florida , who gave Hu a list of human rights concerns , said that Hu insisted a forced-abortion policy did not exist , according to media reports .

China 's population is the largest on earth , with more than 1.34 billion people . Since its implementation in 1979 , the one-child policy has prevented more than 400 million births in China , according to China 's National Population and Family Planning Commission .

About 13 million abortions are performed nationwide each year , the commission has said -- about 35,000 a day . It is unknown how many of those are coerced .

But the one-child policy has been blamed for abuses . In some cases , advocates say , fetuses identified as female are aborted , or midwives strangle a female infant with the umbilical cord during delivery , identifying the baby as `` stillborn , '' according to All Girls Allowed , a nonprofit group that aims to end female `` gendercide , '' educate abandoned girls , rescue trafficked children and defend women 's reproductive rights .

Other females are abandoned , left to die or raised as orphans .

Chinese traditionally prefer boys over girls because they are seen as better able to provide for the family and carry on the family bloodline . As a result , the practice of aborting female fetuses or abandoning infant girls continues , particularly in rural areas .

In November , according to state-run news agency Xinhua , Premier Wen Jiabao , in a speech to the National Working Conference on Women and Children , `` urged banning illegal fetus gender identification and illegal abortion . ''

`` The social status of the female population indicates the level of social progress -LRB- of a nation -RRB- , while children are the future and hope of a nationality and a nation , '' Wen said .

Last summer , Xinhua reported that `` millions of Chinese men of marrying age may be living as frustrated bachelors by 2020 '' because of the gender imbalance . In 2010 , China 's sex ratio at birth was 118 boys for every 100 girls , the news agency said .

China kicked off a national campaign `` to significantly curb non-medical sex determinations and sex-selective abortions to balance the gender ratio , '' Xinhua said . Also during the campaign , `` efforts will be made to raise awareness of gender equality , to severely punish those involved in cases of non-medical sex determinations and sex-selective abortions , and to strengthen monitoring . ''

Liu Qian , vice minister of the Ministry of Health , said that doctors violating the ban would be stripped of their licenses or penalized , and involved medical institutions would also be punished , according to Xinhua .

The one-child policy could contribute to China 's high rate of female suicide , according to All Girls Allowed .

China is the only country in the world where the female suicide rate is higher than that of men -- some 500 women a day , the group said , citing statistics from the World Health Organization and the U.S. State Department .

In its 2009 Human Rights Report , the State Department noted that `` many observers believed that violence against women and girls , discrimination in education and employment , the traditional preference for male children , birth-limitation policies , and other societal factors contributed to the high female suicide rate . Women in rural areas , where the suicide rate for women was three to four times higher than for men , were especially vulnerable . ''

Sometimes the consequences are even more severe . In October 2011 , a woman who was six months pregnant died during a forced abortion in eastern China , according to Women 's Rights Without Frontiers .

Last month , a woman in the same region was forced to undergo an abortion while nine months pregnant , the organization reported . The baby was born alive , but then was drowned in a bucket , according to the organization . A photo of the infant 's body floating in the bucket was circulated on Weibo , the Chinese version of Twitter , sparking widespread outrage .

Chinese officials are prohibited under law from `` infringing on the rights and interests of citizens when promoting compliance with population planning policies , '' according to the Congressional-Executive Commission on China , created by Congress to monitor human rights and the rule of law in China . However , the commission in its most recent annual report noted `` reports of official campaigns , as well as numerous individual cases in which officials used violent methods to coerce citizens to undergo sterilizations or abortions or pay heavy fines for having ` out-of-plan ' children , '' meaning a family 's second child .

In one example from October 2010 , the commission said , a woman in southeastern China who was eight months pregnant with her second child was kidnapped and detained for 40 hours . She was forcibly injected with a substance that caused the fetus to abort . Her husband reportedly was not permitted to see her during this time , the commission said .

`` Nothing in human history compares to the magnitude of China 's 33-year assault on women and children , '' said Rep. Chris Smith , R-New Jersey and chairman of the commission , during the September hearing at which Ji Yeqing testified .

`` Today in China , rather than being given maternal care , pregnant women without birth-allowed permits are hunted down and forcibly aborted . ... For over three decades , brothers and sisters have been illegal ; a mother has absolutely no right to protect her unborn baby from state-sponsored violence . ''

`` Out of plan '' children whose parents do not pay fines may go without household registration , or hukou , which presents obstacles to social benefits including subsidized health care and public education , All Girls Allowed said , citing the commission 's 2010 report .

A woman 's family members , including her husband , parents , in-laws or siblings , may also be targeted for violations of the policy , according to Women 's Rights Without Borders , which published a 2005 report compiled from Chen 's notes into cases he was investigating before his arrest . The report alleges arrest , torture , beatings and fines of family members for the violations of relatives . It also documents a case where a woman suffered health problems after being forced to undergo a tubal ligation despite her high blood pressure .

Ji told lawmakers her first forced abortion was in 2003 , after officials said she and her husband would be fined $ 31,000 for their second child and fired from their jobs . Her second came in 2006 , despite the fact she and her husband at that time were willing to pay the fine and lose their jobs .

She continues to suffer consequences from the abortions . Her husband divorced her , she said , because she could not give him a son -LRB- the couple already had a daughter -RRB- . After she remarried and moved to the United States in 2010 , she said , she visited a clinic to have her IUD removed and undergo an exam . `` The doctor told me that I had cervical erosion , likely due to the poor medical conditions of my forced abortions , '' she said .

Liu Ping told a similar story to Congress last year . She said after giving birth to her son , she was required to undergo five abortions between 1983 and 1990 . During the last procedure , an IUD was inserted .

`` When I learned of the procedure , I protested that I had a kidney disease and could not keep the IUD , but they completely ignored me , '' she said . `` The doctor just gave the bill to my husband and told him to pay . '' Her husband was later arrested , she said , and she was given a `` serious administrative warning '' at her job and fined six months ' pay .

Liu had to report to the factory clinic each month for an exam to make sure she had not removed the IUD on her own or become pregnant again , she said .

In 1997 , she missed a monthly pregnancy check because she was caring for her terminally ill mother , she testified .

`` Agents from the Family Planning Commission waited at my home to drag me to the exam , '' she said . `` When they pushed me to the ground , I fell and hurt my neck vertebrae . My spirit completely collapsed after this one . I attempted suicide , but was stopped by my family from jumping . ''

Liu was able to move to the United States and she and her husband reconciled after a divorce .

`` I feel happiness and joyful , '' she told lawmakers . `` But I know in my homeland , China , there are millions of women who are suffering as I did . Each day thousands of young lives are being destroyed . I beg everyone to save them . ''

CNN 's Jaime FlorCruz contributed to this report .

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China 's one-child policy results in forced abortions and sterilizations , activists say

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Women tell of emotional and physical consequences from the procedures

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Activist Chen Guangcheng works to advocate for victims of such practices